Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, August 20, 1995                   TAG: 9508210110
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA                                LENGTH: Medium

DIPLOMATS KILLED NEAR SARAJEVO

A French peacekeeper also was killed in the accident, and two Americans and two French peacekeepers were injured.

Robert Frasure, a deputy assistant secretary of state, and Nelson Drew, a National Security Council aide, were killed instantly. Joseph Kruzel, deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO affairs, died at the scene of injuries he suffered in the crash, officials said.

President Clinton said the deaths of the ``immensely talented, patriotic Americans'' would not halt U.S. peace efforts in the former Yugoslavia.

``The thing that they would want us most to do is to press ahead, and that's what we intend to do,'' he said from Jackson Hole, Wyo., where he is vacationing.

Nonetheless, the loss of expertise - Frasure had been chief U.S. negotiator for Bosnia since early this year - dealt a severe blow to diplomatic efforts to end the war.

Former President Jimmy Carter, who traveled to Sarajevo in December to try to end the war, said the accident was ``a tragic loss to our country and to prospects for peace in the Balkans.''

The leader of the U.S. negotiating team, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke, said he and the other diplomats would fly back to Washington with the bodies, then continue their mission in Sarajevo.

``Three brave, brilliant, fine American career government officials, who were devoting their lives to the cause of peace in this part of the world, have died in this accident,'' Holbrooke said.

Holbrooke and other members of the team met Saturday afternoon with Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, said State Department spokesman David Johnson.

Izetbegovic offered his condolences at the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo, and said the diplomats ``were on their way here to serve us in trying to find the true path to peace.''

The crash occurred less than four miles outside of Sarajevo, on a dirt road muddied by rain and fog. The road led to the Mount Igman route - the only way to reach Sarajevo since Serb threats to target aircraft closed Sarajevo's airport early this year.

Serb gunners often have attacked convoys on the route, which Bosnian Foreign Minister Muhamed Sacirbey called ``the most dangerous road in the world.'' But officials said the crash was an accident.

``There was no shooting by the Serbs. The driver lost control of the vehicle because of bad conditions on the road,'' said Lt. Col. Pierre Briere, a U.N. spokesman.

The vehicle had moved onto the soft shoulder of the road to avoid an oncoming U.N. convoy when it slipped, plunged down a steep slope and rolled over several times, said State Department spokesman David Johnson.

U.N. officials said it hit two land mines during the plunge, but Johnson said an investigation had indicated there apparently were no mines.

A U.N. helicopter was to fly the three wooden coffins, covered with American flags, to Croatia today. Bosnian Serbs gave permission for the flight over territory they control.

The delegation was on its fifth day of shuttling around the former Yugoslavia with a peace initiative that got a warm reception from Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and generally positive response from Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

Keywords:
FATALITY